I have no idea how it’s March already. I’ve been training hard and resting hard and good things have been happening. I wanted to do a few run races early in the year so I could get a sense of where I was at heading into tri season.

 Race #1- Polar Bear 5k

I have done this race several years in a row. This year I had really fresh legs.. but it was also because I just started training post flu. So my expectations were low. I went out easy and it didn’t feel too bad. Finished in 19:17 and not in much pain, but I also couldn’t go any faster if that makes any sense at all. I didn’t quite have that extra gear.

 Race #2- Charles Harris 10k

This is another yearly favorite, and in fact one of my friends from college’s family puts on this race. It’s fast and rolling with lots of gradual downhills. This year I was determined not to do the finish shoot, lose-my-lunch deal that I did in 2011. Amazingly enough, I about lost it at the exact same spot.. I swear it’s something about the course and not me 🙂

I was slightly stronger than at PB and posted a decent for me 39:26. My fatigue going in was much higher, but I didn’t skimp on the Beet-it or Optygen in the weeks prior and my mind was ready.

I should mention that this is the second out of three races where Tim M passed me in the last mile and charged out of sight! Augh! I can’t hang with him on the run anymore.

 Race #3- Chattahoochee Road Runners 5k

So I was looking for a fast 5k because I really wanted to break 19′ At Polar Bear, my pace was actually right on 19 flat so I thought I could do it with the right course. This was sort of my “last chance” because I can’t just keep racing run races indefinitely and manage to keep up with all my other training for the races that matter more to me.

Going in my training load was good and I didn’t skip any workouts to make this happen except one easy run, so I wasn’t rested at all. However, I did have the power of the downhill. I like to think of myself as the little engine that could.. I can barely chug up steep uphills, but I have decent turnover and efficiency on the downhills. I think it’s from years of chasing people faster than me at TNR and other group runs. So the fact that there are some good steep downhills on this route meant it was my perfect course.

I knew I had to keep under 6:07 pace to make this happen. I was hoping it wouldn’t be long and I wouldn’t add too much extra from not running tangents and weaving around folks.

Originally I had just planned to get up, go, and get it done. I told John not to worry about coming out. So when the gun went off, I was surprised and happy to see him cheering camera in hand, on the course. Very cool for him to come out when I honestly had no expectations of him doing so!

The one piece of advice I had gotten from Brian was to not go out too hard the first 800.  I started thinking about CH versus PB and how it felt so easy, even though my performance wasn’t much “worse ” at PB. I decided to make a conscientious effort to not go below 6 for the first mile. I ended up at 6:03. The second mile had (what seemed at the time) like a long uphill with the turnaround cone. My legs were KILLING me at every incline from two really tough bike workouts I’d already done during the week. I was slowing substantially on the uphills. Second mile was 6:10 and I felt like I was losing it. Third mile was make or break. I felt like this mile was way harder and had what felt like mountains. I kept telling myself “just get to the last .15 and it’s all dh and maybe you can make it up” Third mile was 6:08. That wasn’t gonna cut it. I finally got to the turnoff and it was really steep.

You can see the clock from way off and it said 18:40 when I was oh so far away! I started thinking about how there was no way in heck I can fit in Another 5k and how John came out to see me and I would be bummed if I didn’t at least die trying. So I sprinted as fast as I could (possibly crowding the eventual second place finisher – sorry!) and came throught just under 19. Officially my chip result was 18:55. I couldn’t believe I did it! Later looking at strava and TP my last .14 miles (total distance was 3.14) was 4:24- 4:31 pace depending on which one you believe.

This was the happiest I’ve been about a race in awhile. Great race and I would definitely recommend the 5 or 10k. Six weeks till my first 70.3 of the year!

Smiling on the outside, thinking “this one’s gonna require some 110% compression and ice post-race” on the inside 🙂